Thursday, January 19, 2017

The Artists and Paintings That Bleed Through Bloodborne

This article discusses the Dark Romanticism artwork that inspired the aesthetic of Bloodborne.

via Kotaku.co.uk

"Any subject can be sublime, whether it’s landscapes stretching to the horizon, towering mountains, the passage of time, or even a fantasy like all-powerful gods. The sublime is always threatening in a way, but it can also easily seep into the sinister or scary. In Bloodborne you’ll climb ruined cathedrals, be swallowed by impenetrable woods, stare into yawning abysses and – perhaps most importantly – come face to face with decaying creatures as ancient and indifferent as they are deadly.

The sublime was the bread and butter of the Romantics (late 18th and 19th century), the darker side of which became the Gothic horror genre - originally referred to as Dark Romanticism. Quite the coincidence because this is where we end up if we follow the twisting roots of From Software’s aesthetics. The similarities between Caspar David Friedrich’s (1774-1840) darker paintings and From’s games are undeniable, with these works often dominated by Gothic architecture towering over skewed tombstones, neglected graveyards, and tiny, shadowy figures. If it isn’t a man-made cathedral or abbey that’s doing the towering, nature’s tall trees or distant mountain ranges perform the same function."